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$2 million bail set Calif. inmate who assaulted officer in escape

In addition to the assault, the inmate held a preschool teacher hostage and fired a stolen gun at a hospital worker

By Stephen Baxter
San Jose Mercury News

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Bail was set at $2 million Wednesday for Maurice Ainsworth, the escaped inmate who last week led authorities on a five-hour manhunt during which he allegedly assaulted a sheriff’s deputy, held a preschool teacher hostage and fired a stolen gun at a hospital worker.

Ainsworth, who appeared in court Wednesday, faces life in prison if he is convicted of the 29 criminal counts linked to his escape attempt, including attempted murder, assault and kidnapping.

At Ainsworth’s arraignment, District Attorney Bob Lee asked Judge Paul Burdick to hold Ainsworth without bail. Burdick, however, set bail at $2 million and ordered Ainsworth back in court Dec. 17 to enter a plea.

“Not only did he create tremendous harm, he threatened the life of the deputy,” Lee said in court.

“Everywhere he went that day he terrorized and brutalized,” Lee said later outside the court. “We’re going to fight to hold him accountable on each and every one of these acts.”

In court Wednesday, Ainsworth’s case was heard separately from other defendants in part to accommodate the media’s request to photograph him. Ainsworth, 24, is represented by public defender Mark Garver, who had been representing him in his Los Gatos home invasion case, which is awaiting a jury trial in January.

Garver challenged the idea that Ainsworth had a violent history. “His only past history has been property crimes,” Garver said in an interview. He said

Ainsworth grew up in Santa Cruz and still has family in the area.

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